Substance misuse, psychiatric disorder and parental relationships in patients attending a student health service

The mental health of students is a subject of growing concern. There are limited data on the prevalence of mental disorder in the student population and its relationship to previously noted high levels of drug and alcohol use is unknown. Although there is a considerable body of research into the links between experiences of parenting and the subsequent development of psychiatric morbidity, the nature and importance of such links in a student population has not been examined. The aims of this study were to establish the prevalence of substance misuse and psychiatric disorder in patients attending a student health service and to examine these in relation to perceived experiences of parenting. The study also aimed to assess the level of clinical detection of psychiatric disorders by general practitioners (GPs). Four hundred and thirty randomly selected attenders at a student health service completed a substance use and life style questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Parental Bonding Instrument. Psychiatric caseness, as defined by the GHQ, was compared with a retrospective review of comparable clinical case records. Fifty per cent of men and 32% of women exceeded sensible levels of alcohol consumption and 12% of men and 5% of women reported hazardous levels of alcohol intake. Cannabis was the most commonly used illicit substance, with 28% of men and 12% of women reporting regular use, while 64% of the subjects reported the use of any illicit drug. Sleep problems were common and the use of prescribed psychotropic drugs within the preceding year was reported by almost one-fifth of subjects. High levels of subjective stress, particularly financial, were associated with the use of illicit drugs (P < 0.01) and prescribed psychotropics (P < 0.0001). Sixty-five percent of women and 54% of men met the criteria for psychiatric caseness on the GHQ and this was associated with the use of illicit drugs (P < 0.01), prescribed psychotropics (P < 0.0001), sleep difficulties (P < 0.0001) and current stressors (P < 0.05). Defective parental bonding, particularly affectionless control (low care and overprotection), was associated with caseness on the GHQ (P < 0.0001), excessive alcohol consumption (P < 0.01) and sleep problems (P < 0.01). Psychological morbidity was recorded as present in 14% of consultations in the course of routine clinical practice. Psychological morbidity and substance misuse in students were significantly related to the styles of parenting experienced earlier in life. GPs working with students should be aware of the high prevalence of these problems in this population. Those responsible for higher education policy should take account of these findings and the fact that the presence of stressors such as financial worries was significantly associated with psychological distress, the prescription of psychotropic medication and the use of illicit drugs

Past and present distribution, densities and movements of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean

1. Blue whale locations in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean were obtained from catches (303 239), sightings (4383 records of 8058 whales), strandings (103), Discovery marks (2191) and recoveries (95), and acoustic recordings. 2. Sighting surveys included 7 480 450 km of effort plus 14 676 days with unmeasured effort. Groups usually consisted of solitary whales (65.2%) or pairs (24.6%); larger feeding aggregations of unassociated individuals were only rarely observed. Sighting rates (groups per 1000 km from many platform types) varied by four orders of magnitude and were lowest in the waters of Brazil, South Africa, the eastern tropical Pacific, Antarctica and South Georgia; higher in the Subantarctic and Peru; and highest around Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Chile, southern Australia and south of Madagascar. 3. Blue whales avoid the oligotrophic central gyres of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, but are more common where phytoplankton densities are high, and where there are dynamic oceanographic processes like upwelling and frontal meandering. 4. Compared with historical catches, the Antarctic ("true") subspecies is exceedingly rare and usually concentrated closer to the summer pack ice. In summer they are found throughout the Antarctic; in winter they migrate to southern Africa (although recent sightings there are rare) and to other northerly locations (based on acoustics), although some overwinter in the Antarctic. 5. Pygmy blue whales are found around the Indian Ocean and from southern Australia to New Zealand. At least four groupings are evident: northern Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to the Subantarctic, Indonesia to western and southern Australia, and from New Zealand northwards to the equator. Sighting rates are typically much higher than for Antarctic bluewhales